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#Food Guide

What Does Papaya Taste Like? The Amazing Things You Need to Know

Updated: January 10, 2020

By Nichlas Brandon

Let me tell you something… there’s nothing like a ripe and luscious tropical fruit like papaya.

Without a shred of doubt, this is one of my favorite fruits, rich in both fiber and enzymes, making it superb for your digestion too.

Video Overview

What Is Papaya?

Papaya, otherwise known as pawpaw, is a large, oval-shaped tropical fruit.

To this day, it remains uncertain where papaya originated from, but The Encyclopaedia Britannica says it’s likely a fusion of two or more species of the Carica genus native to Mexico and Central America.

Appearance

Papayas tend to have a pear or eggplant shape and can grow up to 20 inches long. As the fruit ripens, its skin will change from green to a full yellow or orange-yellow color, often with green spots and patches.

Cut open your papaya, and you’ll notice a cluster of black seeds in the center, surrounded by orange, pinkish or red flesh.

Taste and Texture

If you can get your hands on a fully ripe papaya, you’re in for a delicate treat.

A ripe papaya will have a creamy, butter-like texture with a mild to fairly sweet flavor. While the flesh is slightly firmer in larger varieties, the flesh should almost melt in your mouth without the need for any chewing.

The flavor is most often likened to that of a cantaloupe melon or certain varieties of mango.

If your papaya has little to no flavor, a faintly unpleasant smell, and the flesh doesn’t have a melt-in-your-mouth texture, it needed more time to ripen. Usually you should be able to tell this from its skin.

However, even unripe, green papayas are popularly used, mainly in Asian cuisine for their crunchy texture.

As for the seeds? Yup, you can eat those, too, and they come with a bounty of health benefits. But brace yourself for a sharp, bitter flavor, reminiscent of wasabi or mustard.

What Is Papaya Used For?

Like the avocado, papayas are yet another creamy and versatile fruit you can use to make a variety of treats and dishes.

If you’re striving to keep your weight under control, a papaya’s fiber and digestive enzyme content will come in handy once again to help you feel satiated and improve your digestion. Not only that, papaya is also known for being low on calories, further supporting weight loss goals while adding important nutrients to your diet.

High in Antioxidants

Another fabulous benefit is papaya’s rich content of antioxidants, especially vitamin C. Just 1 cup, or even 100 grams for that matter, will provide you 100% of your daily vitamin C needs. In addition to vitamin C, you’ll get a nice dose of other antioxidants like vitamin E and vitamin A, all of which help protect your skin, hair and eyes.

Excellent Food for Skin Care

Not only will papaya help your skin from the inside like asparagus, but you can in fact use it externally too. To help maintain smooth and youthful facial skin, try applying it as an enzyme-rich face mask. It’ll help remove dead skin cells, open clogged pores and reverse blemishes.

Protects Heart Health

Your cardiovascular health can also benefit from regular consumption of papaya as this fruit is a good source of lycopene and vitamin C. Both of these nutrients have shown to have potential protective effects.

Has Anti-inflammatory Benefits

Thanks to its content of papain enzyme, papaya has also been found to have anti-inflammatory effects, helping to improve inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Availability and How to Store Papaya

If by chance you get hooked on papaya, you’ll be pleased to know it’s generally available year-round. The high-season for papaya in North America is from June toward the end of September.

Storing a whole papaya:

If you haven’t cut into your papaya yet, how long it can or should be stored will depend on how ripe (or unripe) it is.

A papaya that’s 1/4 to 1/3 yellow needs more time to ripen and should be ready within 2-5 days if stored at room temperature.

Can’t wait that long? Put the papaya in a brown paper bag and place it in direct sunlight for 24-48 hours.

On the other side, if you don’t think you’ll be eating it within 5 days, place the papaya in a plastic bag and put it in your refrigerator.

Storing a cut-open papaya:

But what if you’ve cut open your papaya? Store the leftovers in a plastic bag in your refrigerator and make sure to eat it within 2-3 days.

How to Tell When Your Papaya is Ripe

To have a papaya that’ll yield the most delicious flavor, you’ll need to know when is the right time to eat it.

Papayas picked at an appropriate stage, so not too early, will continue to finish ripening.

This means one of the keys to a good papaya, is at what stage it was harvested from its tree. When they’re picked too early and fully green, their natural sugars and flavors don’t develop as desired.

As an example, with Caribbean red papayas you can spot those which were picked unripe by how their color changes evenly instead of developing a yellow star pattern as explained in this video:

Other signs to look for:

Should be fairly soft on the outside, yielding to mild pressure

Should have a deep yellow to orange-yellow color (and can have green-colored spots and specks as well)

Should have a pleasantly sweet scent near the stem

How to Prepare and Eat Papaya

Okay, you’ve got yourself a perfectly ripe papaya (or two), so, what do you with it?

As noted earlier, there are several ways you can put fresh papaya to use with just a little culinary creativity.

Let’s take a look at some yummy ways to enjoy these tropical treats!

Fresh Fruit Salad

There’s nothing like a fruit salad made from a variety of fresh, in-season fruits. These are usually easy and quick to make and are a nutritious snack that kids will especially love.

Have a go at this straightforward papaya fruit salad recipe from The Frugal Chef:

Papaya Smoothie

Another super delicious way to start your day is to get your blender out, pull some papaya and other fresh fruits together, and make a filling, health-promoting smoothie.

Cooling Soup

Need some inspiration for a soothing and warm soup? What if I told you, that you can use papaya for that as well? Yup, you can!

And this simple recipe from Humble Recipe is one you ought to try, combining papaya with snow pear, honey dates and the optional addition of rock sugar for added sweetness. Check it out:

Papaya Salsa

Looking for something a little fancier? Then your mouth will water for this tropical salsa recipe from Markus Rothkranz, mixing papaya with other delicate ingredients such as mango, avocado, red onion and cilantro. Super delicious, super savory.

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